Do you keep tabs on your competitors? A key aspect of a successful SEO strategy is knowing what your competition is doing — what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong. If you’re looking for ways to up your game, doing a comprehensive SEO competitor analysis is a great start. Keep reading to learn how to do a competitor analysis in SEO and what actions to take from the information you gather.
Why Is Competitor Analysis Important in SEO?
If you want to dominate the SEO game, competitor analysis is your secret weapon. After all, understanding your competition is key to beating them.
Imagine having insights into the exact keywords funneling traffic to your competitors' websites. Or knowing which blog topics generate the most engagement. Or discovering the backlink sources that boost their authority.
You can get that information by doing SEO competitor research. You’ll see what works in your industry and identify gaps in their approach, providing prime opportunities for you to excel.
For example, during your SEO competitor analysis, you may find that a single blog post generates 1,000 views per month for your top competitor. Those are 1,000 views that you could be getting to your website … if you wrote a more in-depth article on the same topic. By leveraging this type of information, you can create content that captures their traffic and positions you as a leader in your industry. (Of course, it goes without saying that you cannot plagiarize your competition’s content. It has to be 100% unique!)
How To Do a Competitor Analysis in SEO
So, how do you do it? The following steps will help you dive into SEO competitor research to gain valuable insights and maximize your own SEO performance:
Step 1: Identify Your Top Competitors
Start by manually finding your competitors. Search for your target keywords on search engines and note which websites consistently appear on the first page. These are your direct competitors.
To streamline this process, you can use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. These platforms can help you identify your top competitors based on shared keywords and traffic. They also provide an authority score that indicates how strong a competitor's SEO presence is. A high authority score means search engines like Google consider them a reliable and influential site, making them a key player to watch.
Step 2: Analyze Their Content and Keywords
Dive deep into your competitors' content to understand what resonates with their audience. Identify high-performing content by looking at metrics like views, comments, and backlinks. Tools like BuzzSumo can help you see which articles or pages generate the most engagement.
You can also use keyword analysis tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to uncover the keywords driving traffic to their site. Look for both high-volume keywords and long-tail keywords. Pay attention to keyword gaps — terms for which your competitors rank, but you do not. These gaps represent opportunities for you to capture traffic.
Step 3: Dive Into Their Backlink Profile
Backlinks are a big deal for SEO. So during your SEO competitor analysis, make sure to check out their backlink profiles to understand their link-building strategies. Tools like Ubersuggest and Moz can show you where their backlinks are coming from, including the quality and relevance of these links.
Once you see where your competitors are getting authoritative backlinks from, you can see if you can secure similar links. Also, look for opportunities where you can build relationships with sites that currently link to your competitors.
Step 4: Consider Their Technical SEO
While on-page SEO is super important, don’t underestimate the power of technical SEO. While doing SEO competitor research, make note of these elements:
Website Performance and User Experience (UX): Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to gauge how fast their pages load and how user-friendly their website is.
URL Structure: Check if their URLs are clean, descriptive, and well-organized. A good URL structure can significantly impact SEO.
Mobile Responsiveness: Consider how mobile-friendly their site is. Use an online tool to run a mobile-friendly test to see how their site performs on mobile devices.
Schema Markup: Look at how they use schema markup to enhance how search engines understand their content. Tools like Google's Structured Data Testing Tool can help you analyze this.
Step 5: Take Action on Your Insights
Once you’ve gathered all your data, it’s time to apply these insights to your own SEO strategy. Here are some key questions I regularly ask myself when reviewing the performance of a competitor.
What are my competitors doing right that can be replicated?
Where are the holes in my competitors’ SEO strategy?
Where are the holes in my SEO strategy?
Where are there new keyword opportunities?
How can I make my website and content better than my competitors?
Remember, understanding your competition is only part of the equation. The most important part of an SEO competitor analysis is taking action on the results you find.
How Often Should You Do SEO Competitor Research?
You should check in on your competitors monthly. This will help you stay in the loop with what they’re doing, so you can tweak your own SEO and content strategies for the following month. It’s great for spotting new opportunities, staying ahead of industry trends, and keeping your rankings strong.
Leverage SEO Services To Position Yourself as an Industry Leader
One of the hardest parts of doing an SEO competitor analysis is all the different tools required to get a comprehensive look at what they’re doing. To be honest, it can get expensive fast. That’s what makes hiring an SEO freelancer like myself a smart option.
As part of my SEO services, I’ll handle all the heavy lifting for you. I'll dive deep into your competitors' strategies, using a variety of tools to get the full picture (without you having to pay the hefty price tag). On top of that, I'll also track the keyword performance of up to 5 competitors of your choice. This way, you can see how your site ranks against the sites you're competing with for market share.
Ready to outsmart your competition? Contact me today to get started on your personalized SEO competitor analysis and take your strategy to the next level.
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